Web sites tell the history of Broward's parks

One played in the National Football League. Another was briefly the county's property appraiser. And two were county commissioners.

Their common thread? A county park is named after each of them.

Brian Piccolo played football for the Chicago Bears from 1965-69. C. Robert Markham was the county's property appraiser from 1964-66. John D. Easterlin was a commissioner in the 1960s, and Anne Kolb was one from 1974-81.

If you need a quick history lesson, the county's Parks and Recreation Division Web site provides one for you.

Administrative coordinator Pat Raglin updated the site with biographical information and photos in March. She got the idea after trying to gather information on Helene Klein - the Helene Klein Pineland Preserve in Coconut Creek opened Feb. 1 - and having to resort to Klein's driver's license because the family said that was the best photo they had of her.

"So, I got to thinking, why not track down pictures of everybody and put them up," she said. "I think it would be interesting to know the history of the people who the parks are named after."

So she contacted the Broward Historical Commission, which provided most of the information and helped her get within one photo of completing the project. To get the last one, the Rev. Samuel L. Delevoe, a former police officer, activist and street minister, she borrowed the photo of him hanging on the community center wall.

The historical portions are part of an overall Web upgrade by the Broward Parks Division. Thirty-four of the county's 35 parks and natural areas now have their own site, reachable through the main site at www.broward.org/parks. (The 35th is McTyre Park in Pembroke Park, which the county is trying to hand over to local municipalities to operate.)

Raglin, who has been with the county for 20 years, said Parks and Recreation Director Bob Harbin assigned her the task of upgrading the sites and she then decided to add the biographical and historical information. She said the county's Information Technology Department was backed up on work, and while she had no prior experience, she was eager to learn it.

"I didn't demand to do it, but I'm thankful I got the opportunity," said Raglin, a former reporter with the Hollywood Sun-Tattler and The Gainesville Sun. "I just wanted park patrons to see aspects of the park and know what's there, instead of just a listing."

It's not the first historical work for Raglin. In 1998, she helped draft the procedures for naming county parks. Among the stipulations: the person must be deceased, and name approval must go through a committee, then the County Commission.

INFORMATIONAL BOX:

Park histories

C.B. Smith Park, 900 N. Flamingo Road, Pembroke Pines, was acquired in 1959 from the federal government, which had used the property as a firing range for a gunnery school during World War II. It was known as Snake Creek Park and then renamed in 1967 after former Broward County and Hollywood City Commissioner Charles Barney Smith.

Helene Klein Pineland Preserve, 4701 W. Hillsboro Blvd., Coconut Creek, is named for a local environmental activist who died in July 2001. Klein's efforts on behalf of the project included collecting petitions and lobbying the Broward County Commission to include the land for purchase using money from the 2000 Safe Parks and Land Preservation Bond. (For a multimedia presentation, go to www.sun-sentinel.com/preserve)

Secret Woods Nature Center, 2701 W. State Road 84, Dania Beach, came about when the approximately 30 acres known as the Rebecca Cohen Subdivision were scheduled for rezoning to make way for a marina parking lot in 1971. There was an outcry from local citizens who wanted to preserve their "secret woods." The rezoning was canceled and the Nature Conservancy bought most of the property. Broward County made an agreement with the Nature Conservancy to purchase the land back within three years.

Source: Broward Parks and Recreation Division

The background

Markham Park, 16001 W. State Road 84, Sunrise. The initial 542 acres of the park were used as a grazing site until 1965 when the Florida Trustees Internal Improvement Fund turned over the property to Broward County. The park opened in 1973, named after the late C. Robert Markham, who was briefly the county's property appraiser until his death in 1966.

Nick Sortal can be reached at nsortal@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7906.